Buying from Yahoo! Japan Auctions

[Blue_Kirby2]

How would I go about doing this? I can't read Japanese and I've heard that I need the service of somebody in Japan to bid on the auction, pay the seller and have the seller ship the item to them, then have them ship the item to myself.

I was doing a lot of browsing both there and Amazon.co.jp a couple days ago and I can get around through Google's Japanese > English translator (yes, I know there are flaws in that).

I'd be interested in getting to know how to buy off Amazon.co.jp as well, but I don't think I'll be using that for a while as the prices are comparable to that of CDJapan/VGMWorld/etc. So Yahoo! Japan is my main priority right now. I'd especially love to get a copy of this album (http://www.vgmdb.net/db/albums.php?id=6112) from there as I can't find it up for sale anywhere else.

[JasonK]

Hello, you have a to use a middle man :/ Someone who's own a yahoo auction account. Might take 10% or more it depends !

[Secret Squirrel]

I usually use Shopping Mall Japan. (http://www.shoppingmalljapan.com/) Some people also use Rinkya. (http://www.rinkya.com/) Both of them are deputy services that take care of bidding, collecting the goods in Japan, and shipping them to and collecting them in some central location. You'll have to pay fees based on their schedule, so you should check out the pricing for both sites and pick the one you like best. I think both of them will also pass the auction through a translation filter if you need it, though automated translation is not very good. It's probably better to learn the Japanese you need.

[Akumu]

Shopping Mall Japan is a pretty dependable and easy service, their fees aren't that bad either, totally acceptable and they help you out quickly if you got any questions

Just don't buy any cars

[Blue_Kirby2]

Oh, yeah, I forgot about SMJ and Rinkya. I'll take a look at both of them later. I gotta save up what money I have for my July holidays so maybe afterward I'll start buying from there~

What about the Kinokuniya bookstore in New York/US west coast? I was at the Seattle location a couple years back but all the VGM they had was ridiculously overpriced. Is it the same way now, and is it worth it to consider buying from there? I'm wondering if the prices on CDs there would amount to the same as buying off any Japan-based store online, when you factor in shipping as well.

[aotearoa]

What about the Kinokuniya bookstore in New York/US west coast? I was at the Seattle location a couple years back but all the VGM they had was ridiculously overpriced.

Recently I had the opposite experience. A new Japanese book/music/video called 'Book-Off' (http://bookoff.co.jp/) store opened in San Diego, CA a couple of months ago. A Japanese friend took me to it, and on a whim I asked an employee if they had any VGM soundtracks. They had a few copies of Black Mages I and II, Final Fantasy IV Celtic Moon (First print in the digipak), All Sounds of Final Fantasy I and II (first print), Chrono Trigger OSV (first print), Sekien Densetsu II OSV (first print in the digipak) and a few arranged Dragon Quest albums. All of these were only from US$20.00 - US $27.00 each. I ended up buying about $150.00 of stuff, including the FF IV Celic Moon, FF I and II, Chrono Trigger OSV, Black Mages II, and Seiken Densetsu II OSV.

So if you are in the San Diego, CA area look them up and you may get lucky-- They are located in Kearny Mesa, about 5 minutes east of CA. highway 163.

As for getting the Kirby album I have recently signed up with Rinkya, and if you want me to look for it for you just send me a PM here at this site-- I'll only charge you what Rinkya charges me to get it from the seller in Japan to my house, plus also shipping from me to you (Rinkya will only ship to the account holder.).

EDIT: Blue_Kirby2, 'Kirby of The Stars OSV' is on Yahoo! Auctions Japan right now-- http://page7.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g61170792

Using Rinkya, the fees for this item, if bought at the 2500 yen price, would be US$15.00 processing fee + US$15.00 base fee + US$100.00 for every 1000 yen (which is always rounded up to the next unit of 1000). Therefore, if it sells at 2500 yen, using a conversion rate of 100 yen = US$1.00, the total cost would be $25.00 + $15.00 +$15.00 + $3.00 = $58.00. This price would not include shipping from Rinkya's warehouse in Japan. I imagine this might be similar to a 'buy it now' or a starting bid price if it appeared on Ebay. It's ending on May 15, so if you want me to bid on it please let me know (and let me know your max bid also, keeping in mind the fee structure.). If you do want me to bid on it I would probably ask for payment from you via postal money order or check (if you live in the USA), as I am having 'negative phantom balance due to sending payment to a wrong email address and Paypal acting like a doopy doopus' issues with my Paypal account right now ;-</\>!

[Secret Squirrel]

ShoppingMallJapan looks to be cheaper for that price range.

$25.00 (Auction Price) + $8.00 (Base Fee) +$2.50 (Wire Transfer Fee) + ~6.00 (Internal Shipping), which comes out to $41.50.

That doesn't cover shipping from their Indiana storage repository to your address, but it does cover shipping from Japan to the USA. Of course, if you want it a little faster, you can also EMS it from Japan.

[seanne]

I'd recommend you use either SMJ:

Lowest fees of any middleman website I know of
Friendly and prompt customer service
Amazingly good packaging (seriously)

or, Jerold (http://soundtrackcentral.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=1737):

Basically send him a list of what you want and he'll do all the work for you.

[Blue_Kirby2]

aotearoa, if I was living anywhere near San Diego I'd definitely check them out, but sadly I'm stuck in western Canada and I know I won't be getting anywhere near California on my summer holidays. The furthest south I'd be heading would be the Seattle/Tacoma area, or possibly in Montana in the cities of Helena and Butte.

As for getting the Kirby album I have recently signed up with Rinkya, and if you want me to look for it for you just send me a PM here at this site-- I'll only charge you what Rinkya charges me to get it from the seller in Japan to my house, plus also shipping from me to you (Rinkya will only ship to the account holder.).
So, wait. Are you basically offering to buy the album for me and I wouldn't have to pay the cost of the album itself? >_O If so, that's extremely generous on your part, but I'd have to look at my financial situation before doing something like that, because, again, my holidays are coming two months from now and I have to save what little money I have as well as work for more.


Also - I can live without having that Kirby of the Stars OSV for now, so you don't need to bother getting it for me right this moment. I know I'll see it again later on. Thanks a lot, though.


seanne - Is this Jerold guy still doing business? I looked at that thread and I have my doubts since people have had problems contacting him (then again the thread's a year and a half old anyway).

[seanne]

Someone mentioned to me having used his services, about a month or so ago. Could have been Teioh possibly, don't really remember. So I'm pretty sure he's still around.

[Zorbfish]

Jerold is still active. I do business with him monthly. In fact, he just emailed me yesterday about shipping out an order.